Empty Shell
by The Layman
Summary: Itagki Ai, aka. "Shell", realizes that Beyond Birthday may be more dangerous than she thought. X-overs with various other anime and manga. Rated M for disturbing images, paranoia, and torture.
1. BB, not the gun

_Layman here, on my second horror fic centered in the Death Note universe. This one will actually contain characters and references to many different Anime and Manga, so don't be surprised to Bleach, Higurashi, and others make an apearance._

_Also, the main character was kind of inspired by Misora Naomi in looks and occupation, but the personality is completely orginal. If there are any similarities to Naomi, it was not done intentionally._ -----------------------------------------------

...

I hate winter, and everything about it: the cold, the ice, even all those Santa's on the street corners. To be honest, I'd much rather be on a beach somewhere, (Hawaii or Maui would be nice), sipping lemonade and being waited on hand and foot by a bunch of tanned, muscle-bound locals than freezing my tail off here in Japan chasing after the scum that slither and crawl through the alleys of this God forsaken little town I'm stationed in.

Konichiwa, my name is Itagaki Ai, P.D., although most people just call me Shell.

Anyway, as I was saying, I hate winter. These were the thoughts I was thinking as I got out of my car at the scene of a murder. And it was a very unusual murder too, or so dispatch had said. They didn't give me anymore information, so I'd have to grill the cops already at the scene if I wanted to find out more.

The location was an alley between two apartment buildings in a small town not to far from Tokyo. I won't bother giving you the name of the place (not that it'll do you much good, there's nothing remotely worthwhile here anyways), but I live here, so I probably shouldn't badmouth it too much.

Fortunately, albeit grimly so, the dead body takes precedence over my personal feelings.

I've seen many corpses in my time with the police, but they were always intact. Sometimes they'd be missing a finger or an eye would be gouged or slashed, but for the most part they'd remained intact.

This one had it's heartstrings pulled. Literally.

"Grusome, isn't it?" Chief Yagami Soichiro said walking up next to me.

"Hmm," I nodded. "It's not often you see one strung up like that either.

The corpse in question was strung up between the two buildings by his wrists with barbed wire. He must have been hanging for a while now, because the barbs we already embeded under the skin.

"So what do we know?" I asked.

"We know he used to be Watanabe Aizen, a local ramen stand owner. He was reported missing a few days ago by his wife, Hitomi. He was found here an hour ago by a passing jogger." The chief handed me an evidence bag he'd been holding. "This was found in his chest."

I took the bag and looked at it closely. Inside was small piece of wood with the initials "B.B." burned onto it.

"Another 'Beyond Birthday' killing?"

"It get's better," he said, "turn it over."

I looked on the other side and saw a message burned into the wood, same as the name.

"'This is your only Wanring. Only the ritcheous Will survive now. Enny of you who Endaever to stop me, I will Kill them. so Says Beyond.'

"Dramatic much?" I asked, staring in disbelief at the grim poetry.

"And aparently an atrocious speller."

"Does he always leave notes like this?"

The Chief thought for a minute.

"Actually, this would be the first time he's done something like this."

"That means he's planning something," I said. The Chief nodded on agreement.

"The only question is, what is he planning?"

"Chief!" a young looking lieutenant called, running up to the chief.

"What is it, Matsuda," the Chief sighed.

"They just found choke marks on the body."

"What!?"

"Are you sure?" I asked. Mastuda nodded.

"Under the chin. It looks like the victim was choked to death before he was mutilated and strung up."

My god, this person was a psychopath. That was way out of my league.

"What sort of deranged sicko kills someone and then mutilates their body after death?" I asked to no one imparticular.

"Beyond Birhtday?" Matsuda offered helpfully, only to back away under Yagami's glare.

At this point my cell phone beeps. One new text message. It's my roommate, Sakura, saying there's a key above the door to our apartment. She must have a date tonight.

"Shell-san, what is it?" the Chief asks. I look at him, then at my refection in the window I'm standing next to. I still have the same worried frown from my realization a minute ago. I shake it off and turn back to him.

"It's nothing," I say. "I guess I'm still not quite use to all this...this..."

"Then that means you're still human."

"Hmm," I grunted, nodding somberly. "Say, I think I'm going to head home now. And could you do me a favor? If you could send all the relevant information to my house. I think it would be better for me if I didn't have to look at the actual body."

"I don't see why not," Yagami-san said, "but you own me a favor now."

"Last I checked, you still owed me five favors, including this one," I called as I headed for my car.

.oOo.

At home I retrieved the key from above the door and headed inside. The lights were off, so it meant that Sakura had aleady left for her date.

I flipped on the lights and headed into the kitchen to get a snack. I looked in the fridge and saw we still had some milk left, then I took it out and set it on the table. I checked the cubords next and decided to open a box of chocolate-chip cookie I'd bought the other day, (my one weakness). After I poured the milk and set the cookies on a plate I brought them over to my desk and turned on my computer.

Something you way not know about computers is that with the right knowhow, you can watch live TV through them. I guess it involves a special attachment and a lot of skill or something, but it can be done.

This is how my computer is now, courtesy of Sakura's boyfriend.

As the machine booted up, I noticed a small note left on the keyboard. It was from Skaura. It read...

'Dear Ai-chan, Raymon-pii set the computer to record the next episode of _Wild Hearts_, so the Internet might be a little slow. I probably won't be back before you turn in, so leave the key in our place, OK? Love, Sakura-chan.'

I groaned; she was still calling him by the pet name she gave him when they first met. Because of this I almost never heard his real name, and I'm terrible at remembering names. It's weird; I never forget a face, but I can't remember names to save my life.

The computer finally finished the start-up process and I saw a little progress bar in the lower right corner of the screen. I scoffed. 'Is there any soap opera that Skaura won't watch?' I thought to myself as I logged in to the police server.

As I browsed over the B.B. files I slowly devoured the plate of cookies at my side. I absently looked out the window at the now moonlit street below. A young couple was sitting and holding hands at the bus stop across the street. I found it odd that the boy had such bright orange, but what did I know about the latest trend? There were a few more teenagers there, but they were just standing around.

One girl imparticular caught my eye. She was shorter than the rest, and by the way she seemed to shy away from the other strangers down there gave the impression of timidity. She was wearing a white dress with blue trim, and a beret to match. Aside from the cute sailor motif, she was wearing a burgundy shall. A bulging grocery bag in her hand told me she had just come from shopping. Under her hat I could see traces of muted red hair.

And her eyes....

Her eyes were focused straight at my window, directly at me.

I stared back for a while until the bus came along and blocked the other side of the street from my view. When it finally pulled away only the couple were still there.

I closed the curtain and sat back in my chair, wondering what had just happened. The way the girl had stared at me, it was like she was staring right through me, like everything about me was exposed to her.

It scared the hell out of me.

I got up and brought the remaining cookies back to the kitchen, downing the rest of my milk on the way.

It must be stress, I reasoned with myself. I've been putting in too many hour lately.

Yeah, working from home is probably the best thing for me now.

* * *

Thoughts of Beyond.

Soon, the final voice of the chorus will be arrived, ready to sing her final song.

Soon, the beginning will finally start, the end of this menial existence and the beginning of clarity.

In word and method I announce my coming. For those to prepare for the cleansing I am to bring, tears of rejoicing shed for my arival.

Soon, I will free a tormented soul from her broken Shell.

Soon, someone will die.

Soon.  
_____________________________________

_One last thing. For some reason this story highlighted in my mind two constants I put in most of the stories I write. Check out my other stories, do you think you can find them?_


	2. Coming, soon

_One weeks later...._

Basically, my job was to look at what the police found at a crime scene and give them the answer to the crime; how it happened, who did it, the like.

Despite what you see on TV, believe me, it's not nearly as easy as it looks. And it's certainly not solved in an hour. In fact, sometimes cases are never solved.

The fact that a week has gone by already and I still haven't made any definitive progress is proof of that. New information came regularly, but it almost never helped. I still didn't know Beyonds' motives, his goals, his location, anything.

In fact, the only real lead was another strange message left in his latest victim; A twenty-seven year old woman. She had apearently been beaten harshly before having multiple knife wounds inflicted all over her body. The crowning achievement on this gruesome masterpiece was a pole, (2.5 feet long, 1/4 inch wide), driven through her head. There was a piece of paper taped to the pole; it read thus...

"Too think I only Invigerated you miserable Louses, how Lowd I proclamed my warning. If all that You do is Obzerve, to you Untold Deathes I will conduct from my Impereus sanctum. the End will come soon."

Scary, huh? I'd been looking at that one and the first message for a week straight now, determined to finish the puzzle.

Unfortunately, my roommate had other ideas.

"Ai-chan, you need to take a break."

"Huh?" I mumbled, peeling my face off my keyboard.

I'd just pulled another all-nighter.

"I said you need a break," she repeated. "It's not healthy to shut yourself up inside a house all day, looking at...," she made a disgusted face and waved at the pile off case files strewn across my desk, "...that all day."

"This is what I do," I argued drowsily, "it's what puts food on the table, and the thing that keeps you from moving back in with your parents." In case you were wondering, Sakura's parent are more micro-managing than than a champion Starcraft player.

"Regardless," she said, not as detered by my curve ball as I thought, "a girl like you needs to be outside, interacting, meeting boys..."

"Is there a point to all this? I asked impatiently.

"Go shopping. Maybe if you let your head clear a bit you can solve this case faster, and maybe clear that desk off sooner?" she not-so-subtly hinted.

"Maybe you're right, but why shopping?"

"Because we're almost out of food, aho! Or did you not notice all the cobwebs in the cubord?"

"Point taken," I said, raising form my chair. "but I an only carry four bags, so don't expect a feast fit for the Emperor tonight."

"And get some Pockey too. I have something special planned with Raymon-kuu tonight," she called after me as I headed out the door.

I don't even want to know what she meant by that, I thought wryly after I shut the door.

Because, if there's one thing more frightening than than a crazed serial killer, it's the inner workings of Sakura's mind.

.oOo.

I decided to take the bus instead of hailing a taxi. Cheaper fares. I don't know why I did though, I was still feeling incredibly uneasy after my unsettling experience a week ago. However, I knew a shop owner in Tokyo who used to be friends with my parents. After they died, he said they I'd always be welcome with him and his family.

I never took him up on that, but ever since he's always got me good deals on food whenever I see him.

Anyways, I eventually gathered all the things I thought were essential (plus the pocky) and headed to the checkout counter.

"Hi there," a girl of about eightteen said cheerfully. She had unnatural blond hair, even more so then the orange haired kid from a week ago. She so was fully adorned in Goth Lolita that the apron she wore over it did nothing to hide it.

"I haven't seen you hear before," I remarked, trying to make small talk.

"Misa just started working here a few days ago." Her voice was annoyingly high pitched, and the she spoke in the third person equally so. "I've been looking for a job since September- Excause me."

She slid over the counter and walked over to a young boy in a school uniform.

"Conan, I thought I told you not to play with to boxes."

"Sorry Nee-chan. I forgot my comic books at home, so I thought I'd fix the stuff on the shelves."

"Actually, kid," I said, kneeling down next to him, "the owner doesn't like it when people re-arrange the shelves." I whispered into his ear, "I tried that once, and he got so mad, his face turned bright red. Like a police light." The boy chuckled at this.

"Really?"

"Really." The kid beamed and pulled out a magnifying glass.

"When I grow up, I'm gonna be a detective," he said proudly, hold the glass above his head in victory. Then he looked at me again, "Are you a detective?"

"Actually, yes, I am."

"Whoa," the kid was speechless.

"Ma'am," the girl, Misa, said from behind the counter, her hand held out, palm upwards.

"I should probably pay for all of that, shouldn't I?" I asked sheepishly. I patted the boy on the head and went back to my waiting groceries.

I looked at the five digit figure on the register display sighed.

Curse my fervent desire to be well stocked.

"Here," I said, taking out some bills, "take some out for yourself, it is almost Christmas after all."

"But, I can't accept this," Misa siad bashfully. "I have to give you something in return."

"Oh, that's really not-"

"Would you like your fortune told?" she asked cheerfully. "Misa's really good at that."

"Fine," I said, my voice more than betraying my disbelief. Besides, what did I have to loose?

She closed her eyes, and for a moment it looked like she'd fallen asleep.

When she opened them again her eyes were filled with fright.

"You're going to die soon, and the one you seek is closer than you think." Then, without another word, she handed me my bags stared at me until I left.

I think I might actually be in danger.

* * *

Thoughts of Beyond.

In the melodious cacophony of the waking orchestra the final player slowly aproaches the final seat, unwilling to pluck the broken instrument in her hands.

She just sits there, the Shell of a soul that once was. Ignorant, she walks toward the begining, molting wings ascend her to the floor.

Soon, the end will make way for the begining.

I wait, ready to cut flower from its' stalk, to give it eternal life.

Soon, my bride will receive her last kiss.

Soon, someone will die.

Soon....


	3. Death, the beginning

_One week later..._

Paranoid, that's what I was now; totally, utterly, undeniably paranoid.

For an entire week now I'd been a nervous wreck. I was constantly looking over shoulder wherever I went, I always kept a taser hidden on my person, I'd even bought an entire box of four leaf clovers for cryin' out loud!

And it didn't help matter that Beyond Birthday was still at loose.

My phone beeped and I nearly jumped out of my skin. When I calmed down I saw I had a new text message. It was from Yagami-san.

"Shll, new msge BB. Snt foto 2 comp, pls respond."

"Wht is it?" I texted back.

My phone beeped again. This time the message was considerably longer.

"Soon will be the time when Heven falls and the soul Embrases Lite. Luv BB."

"Thnx." I texted as I ducked into a nearby caf .

I sat down at an out of the way table and stared at the message from Beyond. After a while I gave up, unable to make any sense of the gibberish.

"Um, Miss, would you like to order now?" a pretty young waitress asked, suddenly apearing at my table. She seemed rather short, and had short, poofy brown hair. I guess her family owns this place or something.

"Just water," I mumbled, any sense of appetite nonexistant. She nodded and went into the kitchen to get my order.

When she was gone I opened the message and tried to make sense of it. Again.

"What are you looking at?"

"Ah!" I cried, not expecting the waitress to be back so soon. Or maybe I was lost in thought for longer than I thought.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized, backing away. I sighed.

"It's alright," I told her, "I'm just a little edgy lately." I was so edgy that my whole body was taking a toll; my hair was all messed up and askew from my puling it, I had horrendous bags under my eye from the lost sleep, and i had put on make-up in over three days.

I turned my phone so she could see. "It's just a prank from one of my friends," I lied.

She stared at it for a minute before she said, "What's 'Shell' mean?"

"It's my nickname, why?"

"Because, look at all the misspelled words," she said. "If you take the first letter of those words, plus the beginning of the sentence, it's spells out 'Shell'."

"I don't see it," I said, squinting at the screen.

"Sorry, I forgot that that trick was only for English," she explained. "It's an exercise my Foreign Language teacher made us do. Here," she took out a pad and started writing the sentence in English.

'Soon will be the time when Heven falls and the soul Embrases Lite. Luv BB.'

"'Shell', see?"

I did see. In fact, everything in the world suddenly felt like it made sense.

"I have to go," I said to no one imparticular.

"But what about-?" I heard the waitress say as I hurried out the door and back to my apartment.

If I was lucky then there might still be time.

.oOo.

I was so stupid, how could I have not seen it when it was staring me straight in the face? The notes weren't suppose to be viewed on there own, there was another message hidden throughout them.

This is your only  
Wanring.  
Only the ritcheous  
Will survive now.  
Enny of you who  
Endaever to stop me, I will  
Kill them. so  
Says Beyond.  
Too think I only  
Invigerated you miserable  
Louses, how  
Lowd I proclamed my warning. If all that  
You do is  
Obzerve, to you  
Untold  
Deathes I will conduct from my  
Impereus sanctum. the  
End will come soon.  
Soon will be the time when  
Heven falls and the soul  
Embrases  
Lite.  
Luv BB.

"Two weeks till you die, Shell," I heard it going over and over again in my head. He was sending me my death sentence, and I just blatantly ignored it. He probably even set it up to put me off my game, keep me in one place. After all, I so distraught after that girl told my fortune I barely left the house anymore.

Wait, that would mean....

I quickened my pace, going from a brisk walk to a hurried jog. It was getting dark by now, and there were as many people on the streets as there were an hour ago.

Yeah, that helped my spirits.

As I rounded another corner my phone beeped. This time it was a text from Sakura.

"Invtd Raymon-nunuu ovr 2nite, ribbon on door. Hve fun w/o me. Sakura." Oh no, I haven't told her about the Beyond Birthday killings yet (she doesn't like that kind of stuff anyways), and the house would be the most likely place he would try and kill me.

I broke into a frenzied run, hoping I wasn't too late.

.oOo.

I finally reached my apartment, completely out of breath (In my haste I didn't think to call a cab). The lights were out in my room, which meant that either Sakura and Raymon were there, or Beyond was waiting to kill me.

I barged through the front door, not bothering to greet the sleeping attendant in the lobby, and raced up the stairs. (Since this building only has three floors, there isn't an elevator.)

When I reached the top I half staggered down the hall to the door to my room. When I got there I noticed a pink ribbon tied to the doornob in the shape of a bow.

I reached out to open the door but then hesitated. If I was wrong than I would be intruding on Sakura's right to privacy. If I was write....

I didn't want to think about it; I grabbed the nob and gave it a yank. I panicked when it wouldn't open, but calmed down some when I remembered the key above the door. I retrieved it from it's perch and turned the lock.

I cracked the door open and peered inside.

All the lights were off, which brought back all unease I was just starting to loose. I crept inside and began groping around for the light switch. Just as I found it I saw a faint light coming under the door to Sakura's room. I flicked on the light, closing my eyes and breathing a sigh of relief.

When I opened them again I screamed.

Sakura's dead body was lying in the conputer chair, her eyes frozen open in sheer terror. Actually, it was only one eye, because there was kitchen knife where the other would be. There were multiple cuts all over her body, and she was covered in bruises. Her left arm looked like it had been just destroyed, and her fingernails on both hands had been torn off. There were also what looked like bite marks covering her torso.

Good god, she'd been tortured.

I stumbled backwards, tripping over a pair of shoes. As I pulled myself up I fumbled in my coat for my taser. I finally found it and switched it on, holding it out in front of me like a gun.

I suddenly heard clapping from the other side of the room. I swung towards it and saw a very pale, very skinny man with mussy hair and terrible bags under his eyes lying on the sofa, looking staright at me and grinning.

Beyond Birthday.

"Very good, Shell-san, you figured it out just in time."

"W-w-who are you?" I stammered, terrified to find the infamous serial killer standing in my living room.

"Don't you remember?" he asked, rising from his seat. "You've seen me at least thrice before."

I had? Where, when? As near as I could recall, I'd never seen anyone that looked like him before in my life.

"Maybe this will help," he said, taking a pair of glasses off his shirt collar putting them on. "By the way," he said, "did you enjoy that bootleg copy of CSI I gave you last Christmas?"

Wait how did he- No, he couldn't be....

"That's right, I'm your roommate's lover," he said with a smug grin, nodded towrads Sakura's remains.

"No," I whispered, too horrified to say anything else.

"Oh yes. I'm pretty good with disguises, aren't I?" He pulled a gun out of his pants, "Now, toss the weapon over here, please?"

"What if I don't?" I asked shakily, trying to muster up a bravado that I never had.

BANG! I felt the hot air as a bullet whized past my ear.

"You won't want to know," he said grimly. Not knowing what else to do, I tossed him the taser.

Right at his face.

He moved his free arm to block and the taser hit him square in the palm. He jerked about for a few seconds before going completely still. He lowered his hands away from his face and I saw it had an evil grin on it.

"Sorry," he said, letting the taser drop to the floor, "you missed."

This was the last straw.

Screaming, I turned and ran into the kitchen, (hoping to get a weapon of some kind), only to feel an intense pain well up in my left leg a moment later. I fell, mere inches from the counter, and grabbed my injured leg in agony. I looked at my leg and saw blood flowing from a hole in my upper thigh.

I'd been shot.

* * *

Beyond tossed the gun aside, satisfied that it's purpose was fulfilled. He really hated killing people with guns, it was just too quick. He preferred to slowly chip away at his victims' life little by little, allowing them plenty of time to accept their beginning.

And she had gone into the kitchen, with the many, many knives within.

That made his job a little easier.

He stepped into his newest death room and saw his prey lying on the floor, a pool of blood forming under her left leg.

He walked up to her and kicked her hard, sending her flying into some chairs a short distance away. He then went over to the knife block next to the sink and picked out three choice blades.

"Now, let's make sure you have a good seat," he said, taking a small case out of his back pocket. He opened it nup and pulled out a sickly sweet smelling handkerchief. He placed it over his victim's mouth, careful not to inhale any of the fumes himself, and then she went limp.

He then pulled her over to the wall and held up one of her arms against it.

"This will hurt a lot," he said, driving one of the knives through her hand and pinning it to the wall.

Tears began to flow from her still opened eyes.

Good, he thought, the drug took. Can't have the victim falling unconscious during the pain, can we?

He raised her other hand and drove the second knife through it, preventing her from leaving before he was done.

Strung up like a puppet.

"You see," he explained, bending down to her level, "I've been watching you for much longer than you think. Ever since before you joined the force, in fact." Her eyes went wide at this, silently screaming denial.

"But I've bided my time," he went on, slowly tracing the knife over her skin, "waiting for just the right moment to show you the beginning." He pressed harder, drawing blood. The pain was terrible, biting, and agonizing; all her life she'd never felt pain as bad as this.

Then he bit into her leg, tearing off a piece of bloody flesh.

He was eating her alive.

She wanted to scream more than anything, if for no other reason than to call someone else here to save her. Unfortunately, because of that drug he gave her, she was unable to.

Then he suddenly stabbed her leg hard, adding more pain and more blood. Then he stabbed her other leg. Then again. Then her side. then again, higher up.

Slowly moving closer to her heart.

"Oh, there's no need to worry about your heart," he said, as if reading her thoughts, "you're still not at the beginning yet."

Then he took a bottle out of his pocket and unscrewed the cap. He poured a dorp on her face and immediately her flesh began to sizzle and melt.

Acid.

The pain of her face slowly melting away was excruciating, almost unbearable. She was now wishing that he would get it over with and kill her just to end the pain. He dripped some acid in the woulds on her legs and she almost ended her own life right there.

Her pour the acid down arms, on her chest, again on her face.

"Please," she just barely whispered, tears streaming down herface and stinging her naked flesh, "stop it."

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"Yes," she barely mouthed.

And just like that he stabbed her right in the troat.

"Welcome to the beginning," he said, turning away and heading out the door. He locked it behind him and placed the key above the door-frame like he found it.

"Well, on to the next soul."

* * *

Thoughts of Beyond.

At last the chaotic symphony is ready, ready to forsake the end and embrace the begining of clarity. In the freedom of it's cage the Shell is finally ready to begin.

To the unritcheous take heed, your beginings are soon upon you as well.

Soon, I will collect a new piece for my divine orchestra.

Soon, someone else will die.

Soon.  
_________________________________________________________

_Thank you for bearing through another horror piece by yours truely. As usual, there are a few things I'd like to point out not that the story's done._

_Firstly, I just reallized I never mentioneed the police finding Beyonds' fingerprints, so let's just say that he seared them off himself before he started his escaped._

_Secondly, my model for BB is based mostly off of Zsasz from the Batman universe. Sinse I don't really know BB's mannerisms anything else about him out side of the Wikipedia article, that's what came out._

_Lastly, happy holidays, freaks!_


End file.
